Welcome to Texas justice: You might beat the rap, but you won't beat the ride.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

DRP amnesty, indigence rules featured at Texas Tribune

I failed to mention that Brandi Grissom at the Texas Tribune this week had a feature on the DPS Driver Responsibility Program, new indigency and amnesty rules for which are due to be published as early as tomorrow in the Texas Register. Yours truly was quoted briefly in the article.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Thanks for the update again, Scott. The proposed new rules for the DRP look promising. However, what are the chances of them being approved as-is, and in what amount of time? Is another public hearing expected?

Also, they state applications are necessary to apply for both amnesty or indigency. Yet, there is no list or specific details of what the requirements will be for either program. I find that to be sort of shifty and vague. Hopefully they will be lenient, but who really knows for sure?

It's just a bad program that needs to be done away with entirely. The indigency provisions seem to simply mean that an economic class would get off the hook but others would pay--that's not reform, it's just a progressive tax.

9:55 - After the rules are published, there will be a 30 day comment period then another public hearing.

They could be passed as is, slightly adjusted, or if they make more significant changes (which I doubt and hope won't happen), they could have to publish the rule a third time and do it again.

My hope: they pass this version, possibly with a few tweaks to the indigency section, and the rules take effect by the end of the year. DPS had hoped to have them in place to do an amnesty program next spring during tax return season.

To 11:09: The amnesty would be available for those who don't qualify for the indigency program, so it's not entirely true "that an economic class would get off the hook but others would pay." I agree with you I'd prefer they abolish the whole thing.

Southern, daily and good for you

Grits for Breakfast looks at the Texas criminal justice system, with a little politics and whatever
else suits the author's fancy thrown in. All opinions are my own. The facts belong to everybody. Who is this guy?

"I always tell people interested in these issues that your blog is the most important news source, and have had high-ranking corrections officials tell me they read it regularly."

- Scott Medlock, Texas Civil Rights Project

"a helluva blog"

- Solomon Moore, NY Times criminal justice correspondent

"Congrats on building one of the most read and important blogs on a specific policy area that I've ever seen"

- Donald Lee, Texas Conference of Urban Counties

GFB "is a fact-packed, trustworthy reporter of the weirdness that makes up corrections and criminal law in the Lone Star State" and has "shown more naked emperors than Hans Christian Andersen ever did."

-Attorney Bob Mabry, Woodlands

"Grits really shows the potential of a single-state focused criminal law blog"

- Corey Yung, Sex Crimes Blog

"I regard Grits for Breakfast as one of the most welcome and helpful vehicles we elected officials have for understanding the problems and their solutions."

Tommy Adkisson,Bexar County Commissioner

"dude really has a pragmatic approach to crime fighting, almost like he’s some kind of statistics superhero"